Category Archives: Sports

Hail to the Victors…

Well…that was a roller coaster ride watching the Michigan game yesterday. I hope they can figure out a way to win before there is less than a minute left in the game next time….I was so disgusted with the defensive series that led to Nortre Dame getting a 95 yard touchdown to go ahead that I almost turned it off; but I had to come back to be able to share the misery only to be surprised with the win. But, how long can they keep riding Robinson? It’s nice to see in these first two games but, as time goes on, the defenses will start really keying on him and the 500 yard days will be over. I hope Rich Rod has a plan B when that happens, but with the performance of the last two years, I’m going to reserve judgment and just enjoy for a while. After all, we can’t lose until next Saturday….

I’m done for now, the coffee maker has stopped bubbling and I have a fresh, new, newspaper calling my name along with the F1 race from Monza…..

Go Blue!

Well…it’s been a long time coming but the day is here for the real college football to start with Michigan taking on UConn. We also have the State game at noon along with Notre Dame and Purdue. So, it should be a fun day…not a Sunday Funday, but a fun day nonetheless. Whew…any time I have to use words like nonetheless I cringe a little..but just a little since it fits so well. I am a little concerned that we are going to have another season like last year…I don’t know if I can take 3 losing seasons in a row and I can’t remember that happening since I have bee a fan. Could they turn into the Detroit Lions of college football? I shudder (literally) when I have those thoughts. At least we have hockey starting in three weeks if this goes bad. Or, State, since they are both Michigan teams, I have to root for them, too, and there is a little connection for me to that school since my daughter graduated from State a few years back.

Any other sports? Well, there is the Nationwide race from Atlanta under the lights for later if I make it that far…guess I’ll just have to pace today and stay to the one beer and hour limit…which is a good idea anyway and saves me money.

A little sports…

Well…that last one sounded like a good idea at the time, like a lot of the stuff that goes on in my life so I thought I’d change gears and talk a little sports. Not sure how I’ll format this but maybe just take it as it comes to me…oh, that’s how I always do this..

The Lions….what can you say about the Detroit Lions? They’ve been in the playoff I think once in my long lifetime…well, I think they were pretty good in the fifties and I was around then but I didn’t really follow them as a three year old. But, I think all of us here in Michigan fall prey to the disease of hope each autumn; I thought most of us had been innoculated and were immune since they are officially the worst team in the history of football but I see glimmers of that disease again rising as September gets nearer. Last year, I made the point of not watching any games but was not really successful…there is still some draw there for me that I can’t explain. So, I’ll keep hoping that they may have a winning season before I die. Or after….

U of M….it used to be that you could depend on Michigan to be one of the premier large college teams in football and we would have a chance to beat Ohio State every year…what happened? Is it Rich Rodriguez? I’m not sure, but I do know that before he came we didn’t have NCAA investigations and we won at least 9 games a year….BO is probably spinning right now and we’ve lost that special aura that used to surround the program. I know, winning fixes everything but if this is another losing season changes should be made and the responsibility always goes right to the top. I will still watch every game because this was the first college sport that I fell in love with and still do love it. Go Blue!

Detroit Tigers….what can you say about the Tigers and their now all too familiar swoon after the all star break? Were they imposters at the start of the season? There must be a way to fix this but I surely don’t know what it is…maybe cancel the All Star game next year or just ignore it? Keep playing games when everyone else has the time off? Yeah, I know…not legal to do but what they are doing doesn’t work…maybe we can have a winner from the first half of the season and one from the second? Then no matter what their records, you could have a playoff? Silly stuff, but a reflection of the frustration of us Tigers fans.

Red Wings….what can you say about the best team in the best sport? Not much else right now because I’ll have an entire post on them in the near future…it is good that they re-signed Abdelkader finally, and the addition of Modano to the third line may be fun to watch….Let’s Go Red Wings!

See, I can do something other than outrage…

Let’s talk about the Wings…

Well…yeah, I know, that last one was quite a downer but it was something I felt I had to say…but now, we’re going to move on to something that always makes me smile…talking about our Red Wings and the prospects for a good season. It’s not even that far away..just a little over a month for the preseason games to start. The addition of Mike Modano to center the third line between Hudler and Cleary is kind of exciting, and signing Ruslan Salei to help out Jonathan Ericsson on D could help him get back the form he showed a couple of years ago.

One other news item that I am excited about is that Cheli is retiring and coming to work for the Wings in player development, scouting, and other as yet undisclosed duties. I’ve always liked the way Cheli played and became part of the community here in Michigan and I welcome him back to the Wings family. I am also quite excited with Stevie Y’s start with Florida and wish him all the success with his new team…he will always be the Captain to me and lots of other Wings fans and it is great to see one of the “good guys” get the chance to spread the integrity he showed every day while with the Wings. Not much else right now…for the Wings that is…I still have that class warfare thing percolating so you may get another one today…

Wings are getting closer…

Well…the hockey season is getting closer and there is some good news to report finally…Mike Modano is going to sign with the Wings…I know he’s 40 but so is Nick Lidstrom and we all know how he can still play the game. Now they just need to get Helm signed and we can feel pretty good about the upcoming season. Even though we didn’t do well in the playoffs last year, I have hopes that the injuries will stay away and we can get back to our potential. Was sorry to see Maltby leave since he has been with the Wings since I’ve been a fanatic…and not being able to say Lebda anymore will take some of the fun out of watching…Go Wings!

World Cup Update

Well…an interesting day at the World Cup today with probably the best matches I’ve seen so far…the Netherlands defeated Brazil…yep, you read that right…Brazil is gone in a 2-1 loss. While most people were picking Brazil to win it all, in the matches I watched, they were inconsistent and I never really saw the flair that they are known for…they looked like a beatable team and in the end they were.

The second match of the day, Uruguay and Ghana, was really entertaining with a wide open back and forth that went through overtime and into PK’s when one of the Ghanian players missed a PK on the last play of the match in overtime and then Uruguay won it in the shootout. Ghana played really well and I could see how they could beat us last week….I feel sorry for the player who missed the PK that would have won it for them but that is the game and how it works sometimes….

Looking forward to what I think will be the best match of the cup, when Germany and Argentina go at it Sat morning at 9:30….can’t wait to see that one!

More World Cup…

Well…not the result I wanted or expected from the USA Ghana match yesterday but our guys tried hard and did overcome a lot of bad calls and adversity to get to the knockout round….so guys, I salute you! I am still going watch the rest of the games and we have a Germany England match going on right now that is going to have a great second half…the game should be tied at 2-2 but, inexplicably, England had a clear goal nullified since none of the refs saw it…I guess England knows how we feel now, huh?

I’ll probably update this later today after the Mexico game…might even go over to the Mex place for a beer but should probably give the stomach and liver a rest.

USA, USA, USA…

Man….what a heart-stopping match between Algeria and the USA….and Donovan wins it in stoppage time. I couldn’t stand just sitting here so I went over to the local Mexican place to watch with some of the guys over there…the only other soccer fans I know so that was fun….even had lunch…great Mexican food at Cabana Tres Amigos…go there some time..yummy. As soon as the US scored I got a call from my daughter in Chicago checking to make sure I didn’t have a heart attack. England won, too, so her husband will be happy that they got through….I’m smiling….